Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
In the upper chamber on the night before the crucifixion, when Jesus was alone with the eleven comforting them about His going away to prepare a place and coming again to receive them, Thomas answered His statement that they knew whither He went and the way by confessing that they did not know the destination and therefore could not know the way. His question expressed doubt and perplexity despite love for Jesus, with sorrow and discouragement from failure to discern Christ's divine character and to grasp His teaching about His relation to God and the future life. Jesus answered that He Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the way to the Father through whom alone any come to the Father. To know Him by personal faith is to know the Father, whose character and works He reveals as the express image of His person and the brightness of His glory. There is no other way to heaven or access to God, for He bridges the gulf made by sin with His own body and life, and this gift is received by living faith that works through love, trusting Him as personal Saviour to make and keep the soul pure, holy and obedient.
Setting and Occasion
The question was asked in the upper chamber on the night before the crucifixion, when Christ was alone with the eleven after Judas had left, looking upon them with divine love and tender sympathy. Before speaking of His approaching separation He pointed them to the great object of His mission which He kept ever before Him, with joy that all His humiliation and suffering would glorify the Father's name. He spoke to comfort His sorrowful disciples because severe trials and severe temptation and testing lay ahead of them.
He understood their feelings at losing their beloved Master, and He knew the result to them as well as to Himself as the bitterest cup of His humanity was about to be held to His lips. His three years of labor had been to prepare them for the trials soon to open before them, and forgetting Himself and His own suffering He spoke to comfort His sorrowing disciples though a cruel death was just before Him. The chapter is full of instruction for His followers and offers words of courage and comfort and hope near the close of His earthly ministry.
The question follows His saying that He would go away to prepare mansions or a place and come again to receive the disciples unto Himself, and that they knew whither He went and the way. Thomas and the disciples did not understand those words about going to prepare a place, even though He had just told them of the place and His return to receive them to Himself. Their response expressed perplexity about where He was going and how they could know the way there.
Thomas asks this despite having been taught by Christ for three years, and though Christ had taught them that way Thomas did not understand. The verse belongs to the precious instruction of John 14-17, given when Christ was about to be separated from the disciples and close His work on earth and return to the Father. It was given when they would no longer have Him as their visible counselor, spoken in the upper chamber before He led them out through the city toward the Mount of Olives.
Meaning of Thomas's Question
Thomas was answering Christ's statement that the disciples knew where He was going and knew the way, by confessing that they did not know the destination and therefore could not know the way. His words were spoken in unbelief, for he did not understand where Jesus was going or how the way there could be known. The question drew the declaration that Jesus Himself is the way to the Father, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him.
The question expressed doubt joined with love for Jesus, with discouragement, sorrow, uncertainty and perplexity about how the way could be known when the place was unknown. It showed lack of faith in the Word of God and failure to discern the divine character of Christ. Thomas was not alone in this unbelief, and such doubting stands as the opposite of being a believing Christian. When people are perplexed, the same need points them to seek guidance in God's Word, to study Christ's character and work, and to act as He would, for He never testified to wrong because He is truth itself.
The question showed that the disciples did not yet understand Christ's words concerning His relation to God and their future. They had not grasped His repeated teaching about heaven's kingdom and the future life, and did not understand where Jesus was going or how to reach the promised destination. Their confusion led to Christ's desire for them to have a clearer, more distinct knowledge of God, answered by declaring that He is the way to the Father and that knowing Him reveals the Father.
Beyond Thomas himself, the question expresses the human inability to know how to reach heaven while sin separates the world from it. It is the longing of people who want to return to the Father but find the way home distant, difficult and uncertain, and who ask what steps lead there.
Christ Answers He Is Way
To Thomas's confession that they did not know the destination and therefore could not know the way, Jesus answers that He Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the way to the Father, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. The question shows the disciples did not understand where He was going or how they could reach it, even after having been taught by Christ for three years, and in their sorrow and uncertainty Thomas asks how the way can be known when they do not know where He is going. His question prompts Jesus to explain that He Himself is the way to the Father, and that access to the Father is only through Him.
Knowing Jesus by personal faith is knowing the Father, whose character and works Jesus reveals. Acquaintance with Christ gives a more perfect knowledge of God, because Christ is the express image of His Father's person, the brightness of His Father's glory, sent into the world as God's representative. The Father is revealed in the Son through His teaching and works, so that through Him the disciples could know God, and they had discerned in Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life even amid uncertainty as He sought to comfort them on the night before His crucifixion when they faced severe trials. Thomas asks from uncertainty and doubt despite his love for Jesus, and the answer meets that need by showing that knowing Him reveals the Father.
His departure was not a final separation: He went to prepare a place for them and would return to receive them to Himself. His words point to the home He is preparing for His followers and give them a promise to hold onto through trial, with assurance of His continuing presence even after His departure. What they could not yet take in the Holy Spirit would later help them understand. Christ's answer that He is the truth and the life means Jesus Christ Himself is the only dependence and the only hope for salvation, to be kept by faith before the mind. Because He gave His life, His word about the way can be trusted without doubt, and He had given His disciples the instruction essential for them.
Only Way for All
There is no other way to heaven and no other access to God except through Christ himself. Thomas's question expresses the human inability to know how to reach heaven while sin separates the world from it. That gulf made by sin is bridged by Christ through His own body, and He provides the way for people to be reunited with heaven. He gives help and strength to all who desire to cross over. Through Him exiles become prisoners of hope and are placed on probation.
People in every age have been saved through Him. Patriarchs and prophets saw the gospel in types and symbols, and their witness testified of Christ just as the witness of the apostles did. In His first advent He showed this way by giving up riches, power and glory for poverty, temptation, privation and suffering.
Receiving and Living Verse
These are words of encouragement and hope in John 14-16, spoken because He knew how severely the faith and courage of the disciples would be tried and the trials His church would face through unconverted believers. They were meant to bring strength and assurance enabling true believers to stand fast in the most trying hour and to endure without failing as long as time lasts, with His thoughts for His disciples and not for Himself even though He knew the terrible ordeal of betrayal, scourging, and death awaiting Him. They are so simple that even children may understand them, yet they were contrary to the wishes and desires of the disciples, who could not comprehend that their beloved Teacher would be betrayed, scourged, and put to death, and the question shows that incomprehension. That instruction before He left them made them acquainted with His purposes and plans, assured them that He would not leave them in blindness or ignorance, and was meant to strengthen them for future trials and temptations. He also wanted them to remember His love in all their work and councils.
The precious instruction in John 14-17 was given when He was about to be separated from the disciples and they would no longer have Him as their visible counselor to take the responsibility in all matters. It was given because they must have special instruction, for unless divine power were combined with human effort their future work would prove a failure. Were they to leave the divine agency out of their efforts they would not accomplish the work appointed them to do. In all their ministry to bless humanity they must build upon a divine Christ.
Its light and understanding come not from the mere letter of the words but from the entrance of the Word into the heart by the will of the human agent, interpreted and applied by the Holy Spirit with divine power cooperating with the human. The truth must not be kept in the outer court but must work transformation of character by its life-giving principles. Held in simplicity with the heart under the inspiration of the Spirit, the words carry deepening lessons for all future generations and are more surely comprehended, and believers can understand the instruction in John 14-17 with new enlightenment when the Spirit renews their minds. The verse gives hope and encouragement to the soul, brings inward sweet peace in divine things, kindles fervor of love in the heart, comforts in the love of God, and reveals depths of His love that cannot be expressed in words. John 13-17 must be carefully studied and earnestly practiced by all who honor God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, for those chapters set out duties commanded by Christ as Substitute and Surety that cannot be neglected, because doing them gives the world divine proof that God loved the world by giving His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.
John 14 teaches the need for living faith, for faith works through love and purifies the soul. Christ is the personal Saviour, and people must come to Him as they are, trusting Him to make and keep them pure, holy, and obedient. The verse is of great consequence and teaches the need for the right kind of faith that believes the promises of God are yea and Amen in Christ Jesus. That faith is to be cultivated under every circumstance and brought into practical life, with belief that Christ is the only Saviour.
The disciples said they did not know where He was going or how to know the way, even though He had just told them about the place He was preparing and His return to receive them, and their response is called unbelieving. Knowing about Christ is not the same as having a personal, daily experience with God, and church membership alone is not enough to enter heaven. When people are perplexed, the verse points them to seek guidance in God's Word, study Christ's character and work, and act as He would, for He never testified to wrong because He is truth itself. He turned their uncertainty about where He was going and how to reach it into instruction about the way to eternal life, in which the humble seeker is guided along a clear spiritual path toward the mansions He has prepared, while needless speculation does not advance understanding or salvation.
In the setting of God's love for the world, when people draw near to God and take a step toward Jesus, He responds by drawing near and advancing toward them. These words of comfort to His disciples just before His rejection and crucifixion offer comfort and encouragement and are to be received by living faith and used to enlighten those who do not understand their meaning. The instruction in John 6 and 13-17 plainly expresses God's will for His people, is meant to cure dissension, and lived out in practical life produces unity with one another and with Christ and love that withstands Satan's assaults.
In the upper chamber on the night before the crucifixion, when Jesus was alone with the eleven comforting them about His going away to prepare a place and coming again to receive them, Thomas answered His statement that they knew whither He went and the way by confessing that they did not know the destination and therefore could not know the way. His question expressed doubt and perplexity despite love for Jesus, with sorrow and discouragement from failure to discern Christ's divine character and to grasp His teaching about His relation to God and the future life. Jesus answered that He Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the way to the Father through whom alone any come to the Father. To know Him by personal faith is to know the Father, whose character and works He reveals as the express image of His person and the brightness of His glory. There is no other way to heaven or access to God, for He bridges the gulf made by sin with His own body and life, and this gift is received by living faith that works through love, trusting Him as personal Saviour to make and keep the soul pure, holy and obedient.
Setting and Occasion
The question was asked in the upper chamber on the night before the crucifixion, when Christ was alone with the eleven after Judas had left, looking upon them with divine love and tender sympathy. Before speaking of His approaching separation He pointed them to the great object of His mission which He kept ever before Him, with joy that all His humiliation and suffering would glorify the Father's name. He spoke to comfort His sorrowful disciples because severe trials and severe temptation and testing lay ahead of them.
He understood their feelings at losing their beloved Master, and He knew the result to them as well as to Himself as the bitterest cup of His humanity was about to be held to His lips. His three years of labor had been to prepare them for the trials soon to open before them, and forgetting Himself and His own suffering He spoke to comfort His sorrowing disciples though a cruel death was just before Him. The chapter is full of instruction for His followers and offers words of courage and comfort and hope near the close of His earthly ministry.
The question follows His saying that He would go away to prepare mansions or a place and come again to receive the disciples unto Himself, and that they knew whither He went and the way. Thomas and the disciples did not understand those words about going to prepare a place, even though He had just told them of the place and His return to receive them to Himself. Their response expressed perplexity about where He was going and how they could know the way there.
Thomas asks this despite having been taught by Christ for three years, and though Christ had taught them that way Thomas did not understand. The verse belongs to the precious instruction of John 14-17, given when Christ was about to be separated from the disciples and close His work on earth and return to the Father. It was given when they would no longer have Him as their visible counselor, spoken in the upper chamber before He led them out through the city toward the Mount of Olives.
Meaning of Thomas's Question
Thomas was answering Christ's statement that the disciples knew where He was going and knew the way, by confessing that they did not know the destination and therefore could not know the way. His words were spoken in unbelief, for he did not understand where Jesus was going or how the way there could be known. The question drew the declaration that Jesus Himself is the way to the Father, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him.
The question expressed doubt joined with love for Jesus, with discouragement, sorrow, uncertainty and perplexity about how the way could be known when the place was unknown. It showed lack of faith in the Word of God and failure to discern the divine character of Christ. Thomas was not alone in this unbelief, and such doubting stands as the opposite of being a believing Christian. When people are perplexed, the same need points them to seek guidance in God's Word, to study Christ's character and work, and to act as He would, for He never testified to wrong because He is truth itself.
The question showed that the disciples did not yet understand Christ's words concerning His relation to God and their future. They had not grasped His repeated teaching about heaven's kingdom and the future life, and did not understand where Jesus was going or how to reach the promised destination. Their confusion led to Christ's desire for them to have a clearer, more distinct knowledge of God, answered by declaring that He is the way to the Father and that knowing Him reveals the Father.
Beyond Thomas himself, the question expresses the human inability to know how to reach heaven while sin separates the world from it. It is the longing of people who want to return to the Father but find the way home distant, difficult and uncertain, and who ask what steps lead there.
Christ Answers He Is Way
To Thomas's confession that they did not know the destination and therefore could not know the way, Jesus answers that He Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the way to the Father, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. The question shows the disciples did not understand where He was going or how they could reach it, even after having been taught by Christ for three years, and in their sorrow and uncertainty Thomas asks how the way can be known when they do not know where He is going. His question prompts Jesus to explain that He Himself is the way to the Father, and that access to the Father is only through Him.
Knowing Jesus by personal faith is knowing the Father, whose character and works Jesus reveals. Acquaintance with Christ gives a more perfect knowledge of God, because Christ is the express image of His Father's person, the brightness of His Father's glory, sent into the world as God's representative. The Father is revealed in the Son through His teaching and works, so that through Him the disciples could know God, and they had discerned in Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life even amid uncertainty as He sought to comfort them on the night before His crucifixion when they faced severe trials. Thomas asks from uncertainty and doubt despite his love for Jesus, and the answer meets that need by showing that knowing Him reveals the Father.
His departure was not a final separation: He went to prepare a place for them and would return to receive them to Himself. His words point to the home He is preparing for His followers and give them a promise to hold onto through trial, with assurance of His continuing presence even after His departure. What they could not yet take in the Holy Spirit would later help them understand. Christ's answer that He is the truth and the life means Jesus Christ Himself is the only dependence and the only hope for salvation, to be kept by faith before the mind. Because He gave His life, His word about the way can be trusted without doubt, and He had given His disciples the instruction essential for them.
Only Way for All
There is no other way to heaven and no other access to God except through Christ himself. Thomas's question expresses the human inability to know how to reach heaven while sin separates the world from it. That gulf made by sin is bridged by Christ through His own body, and He provides the way for people to be reunited with heaven. He gives help and strength to all who desire to cross over. Through Him exiles become prisoners of hope and are placed on probation.
People in every age have been saved through Him. Patriarchs and prophets saw the gospel in types and symbols, and their witness testified of Christ just as the witness of the apostles did. In His first advent He showed this way by giving up riches, power and glory for poverty, temptation, privation and suffering.
Receiving and Living Verse
These are words of encouragement and hope in John 14-16, spoken because He knew how severely the faith and courage of the disciples would be tried and the trials His church would face through unconverted believers. They were meant to bring strength and assurance enabling true believers to stand fast in the most trying hour and to endure without failing as long as time lasts, with His thoughts for His disciples and not for Himself even though He knew the terrible ordeal of betrayal, scourging, and death awaiting Him. They are so simple that even children may understand them, yet they were contrary to the wishes and desires of the disciples, who could not comprehend that their beloved Teacher would be betrayed, scourged, and put to death, and the question shows that incomprehension. That instruction before He left them made them acquainted with His purposes and plans, assured them that He would not leave them in blindness or ignorance, and was meant to strengthen them for future trials and temptations. He also wanted them to remember His love in all their work and councils.
The precious instruction in John 14-17 was given when He was about to be separated from the disciples and they would no longer have Him as their visible counselor to take the responsibility in all matters. It was given because they must have special instruction, for unless divine power were combined with human effort their future work would prove a failure. Were they to leave the divine agency out of their efforts they would not accomplish the work appointed them to do. In all their ministry to bless humanity they must build upon a divine Christ.
Its light and understanding come not from the mere letter of the words but from the entrance of the Word into the heart by the will of the human agent, interpreted and applied by the Holy Spirit with divine power cooperating with the human. The truth must not be kept in the outer court but must work transformation of character by its life-giving principles. Held in simplicity with the heart under the inspiration of the Spirit, the words carry deepening lessons for all future generations and are more surely comprehended, and believers can understand the instruction in John 14-17 with new enlightenment when the Spirit renews their minds. The verse gives hope and encouragement to the soul, brings inward sweet peace in divine things, kindles fervor of love in the heart, comforts in the love of God, and reveals depths of His love that cannot be expressed in words. John 13-17 must be carefully studied and earnestly practiced by all who honor God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, for those chapters set out duties commanded by Christ as Substitute and Surety that cannot be neglected, because doing them gives the world divine proof that God loved the world by giving His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.
John 14 teaches the need for living faith, for faith works through love and purifies the soul. Christ is the personal Saviour, and people must come to Him as they are, trusting Him to make and keep them pure, holy, and obedient. The verse is of great consequence and teaches the need for the right kind of faith that believes the promises of God are yea and Amen in Christ Jesus. That faith is to be cultivated under every circumstance and brought into practical life, with belief that Christ is the only Saviour.
The disciples said they did not know where He was going or how to know the way, even though He had just told them about the place He was preparing and His return to receive them, and their response is called unbelieving. Knowing about Christ is not the same as having a personal, daily experience with God, and church membership alone is not enough to enter heaven. When people are perplexed, the verse points them to seek guidance in God's Word, study Christ's character and work, and act as He would, for He never testified to wrong because He is truth itself. He turned their uncertainty about where He was going and how to reach it into instruction about the way to eternal life, in which the humble seeker is guided along a clear spiritual path toward the mansions He has prepared, while needless speculation does not advance understanding or salvation.
In the setting of God's love for the world, when people draw near to God and take a step toward Jesus, He responds by drawing near and advancing toward them. These words of comfort to His disciples just before His rejection and crucifixion offer comfort and encouragement and are to be received by living faith and used to enlighten those who do not understand their meaning. The instruction in John 6 and 13-17 plainly expresses God's will for His people, is meant to cure dissension, and lived out in practical life produces unity with one another and with Christ and love that withstands Satan's assaults.